County Crop Data

The Crop Report

Each year, the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner releases a Crop Report that provides a wealth of information about what local farmers grow, how much it’s worth and how
many acres are devoting to growing it.

Top Five Ventura County Crops for 2016

Strawberries

266 Million

Lemons

206 Million

Nursery Stock

202 Million

Celery

171 Million

Raspberries

What’s Growing Now?

Thanks to its temperate climate, Ventura County produces crops year-round. Farmers involved in vegetable and berry production typically
plant and harvest multiple crops each year. Orchard crops ripen and are harvested for many months at a time.

A. Ventura County ranked No. 10 among California counties in total crop value in 2014, according
to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The most recent national data put Ventura County
at No. 11 among all counties in the United States.

A. Avocados, which are grown on about 20,000 acres. Lemons are next, at about 15,000 acres,
followed by celery, 12,000 acres, and strawberries, 11,000 acres. Together, those four crops account for
more than half the total harvested acreage in the county.

A. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years by the National
Agricultural Statistics Service, Ventura County had 2,150 farms in 2012. The agency defines a farm as an
operation that produces at least $1,000 worth of products in a year.

A. Smaller. The average farm size in Ventura County is 131 acres. The statewide average is
328 acres, and the nationwide average is 434 acres. In Ventura County, the median farm size — meaning
half of all farms are bigger, and half are smaller — is 12 acres. Seventy-eight percent of the county’s
farms are less than 50 acres in size.

A. There are various ways of calculating that. According to the California Department of Conservation’s
Farmland Mapping Program, in 2012 Ventura County contained 118,800 acres of “important farmland” and 197,866
acres of grazing land, for a total of 316,666 acres of agricultural land. According to the Ventura County
Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, the county has 95,802 acres of irrigated land.

A. The county’s total land area is 1.2 million acres. Using the Department of Conservation
data, 26 percent of the county is agricultural land. (About half the county’s land area consists of Los
Padres National Forest, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and other protected public lands.)

A. According to the state, Ventura County has 105,461 acres of urban and built-up land. So,
for nearly every acre of shopping mall, city street and housing tract, there’s approximately an acre of
celery, strawberries, lemons, peppers, flowers and other crops.

A. In addition to generating direct on-farm employment and revenue, agricultural production
supports a wide range of other businesses, including packing houses, equipment dealers, chemical applicators,
pest-control firms, labor contractors, fertilizer and other supply dealers, trucking firms, fuel distributors,
and repair and manufacturing facilities. Altogether, farming and farm-dependent businesses provide an estimated
43,000 jobs in Ventura County, more than any other sector of the economy except services. Agriculture and
agriculture-related businesses account for about 4.4 percent of overall economic activity in Ventura County,
generating $2.2 billion in revenue and $76 million in indirect business taxes annually. One in 10 county
residents rely to some degree on income derived from farming.

A. It’s difficult to get a reliable count, but there are believed to be about 36,000 Ventura
County farm workers. The number varies seasonally, peaking during the spring and summer harvest of strawberries,
lemons and avocados.

A. It depends on where they are. Most growers in the county rely on groundwater, particularly
on the Oxnard Plain. Others purchase it from agencies that deliver water imported from Northern California
by the State Water Project, or from agencies that collect surface water in local reservoirs. Local groundwater
and surface water are by far the most important sources for local farmers.

A. It depends on how you define it. According to figures compiled by the California Department
of Pesticide Regulation, 6.5 million pounds of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides were applied in
Ventura County in 2014, which is the most recent year for which data is available. Ventura ranked 10th
among California counties in total pesticide use, mirroring its ranking in total value of agricultural
production.

A. The most abundantly applied pesticide by weight in 2014 was chloropicrin, at 2.3 million
pounds. It’s a soil fumigant used to prepare fields for planting strawberries, tomatoes, raspberries, peppers
and other crops. The second was mineral and petroleum oil, at 1.5 million pounds. Oil is mainly used in
orchards to control scale, aphids and mites. It is considered benign, as far as pesticides go; a mildly
toxic substance approved in certain formulations for use on organic crops. It works by coating and suffocating
pests rather than by poisoning them.

A. The chemicals are injected into the soil before planting, in order to kill weeds, insects,
nematodes and other pests. Research and practical experience have demonstrated dramatically reduced crop
yields when fumigants are not used. Because farmland costs so much to buy, rent or lease in Ventura County,
growers must maximize production and revenues in order to stay in business.

A. Farmers are not alone in using chemicals to kill unwanted organisms. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency estimates that home and garden use accounts for about 20 percent of American pesticide
consumption. If that average holds in Ventura County, then local residents use nearly 2 million pounds
of toxic chemicals in their homes and yards every year.

A. Although local farms and ranches produce more than 100 types of fruit, nut, vegetable and
grain crops, the county’s climate makes it particularly suited to specialty crops, such as citrus, berries
and fresh vegetables. Some of these are produced in astonishing abundance. Ventura County produces enough
strawberries each year, for example, to satisfy the annual consumption of 78 million Americans. In an average
year, it would take 87 million Americans to consume the county’s lemon crop, 135 million to consume its
celery production, and 45 million to eat all its avocados.

You Can Support Ventura County’s Farms & Farmers

Everyone is eligible to join. Whether you're a farmer, rancher, business owner or simply a resident who appreciates Ventura County's delicious, locally grown food, there is a Farm Bureau membership that fits your interests and budget.